Nobody was more shocked than I was when I signed up to canvass for Zohran Mamdani. It's been fifteen years since the last time I knocked on a stranger's door to ask them to vote for a political candidate. It's not that I stopped caring. We just didn't have any candidates worth fighting for. Especially in New York, where we're lucky to have a contested election (or even an election at all, thanks to party chicanery), canvassing just never felt like a worthwhile use of my energy, especially when the candidates were all milquetoaste compromises, the "lesser of two evils". How can I ask a stranger to support a candidate when I barely want to support them myself?
Then suddenly, that excuse evaporated. Zohran Mamdani is not just here telling us that a better world is possible. He's here fighting to make it happen.
When I heard that the campaign needed Bengali-speaking volunteers for outreach to immigrant families, without hesitating, I signed up to canvass in the East Bronx - over 2.5h away by subway, round trip. Being able to speak to people in our mutual native language about a candidate with a true vision for a better city has been heartwarming beyond words. Parkchester is a corner of the city that looks and feels so different from where I live or usually spend my time, and yet it's still New York - a beautiful reminder of how diverse our city is.
Zohran said it himself at the rally last weekend that packed Terminal 5. "The time for moral victories is over." We're not just here to fight symbolic fights. We're here to fight for what we believe in - and đđśđť.
If you believe a better city is possible, you're not alone. I urge you to sign up to canvass or phonebank this week at the link in
@zohrankmamdani 's bio. Voting for Zohran is good, but that alone is not what's going to send Cuomo packing back to Westchester. What we need is for you to do the work to organize our community, and this is where that starts.
đˇ: all mine, except the first, which is by
@furioursus at
@folsomstreeteast
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